Carpe Via

For Lee Fay -wall to wall sparkle:

At one point Rashmi turned to me and asked, “what’s the difference between India and the US?”

So I thought for a moment then told her, “It’s as if India reacts from the heart, while the west feels as if it reacts from the head. Even when people here are irritated or rude, it’s with an openness. And in all the chaos, there is a gentle kindness and a pulse that still feels in tune with nature somehow.”

She looked at me quietly for a moment then said, “I was just going to tell you a joke: In India you can pee in public but get arrested for kissing, while in the US it’s the opposite.”

I got Delhi belly.
So Charles toured the Taj and the Red Fort alone while I watched a lot of Bollywood movies in the hotel room.
No longer worried about gaining weight.

Charles’ day:

My day:

We had a great train ride to Agra. No seats left so Charles stood for 2 of the 3 hours. Says he wanted to because he was closer to the ceiling fan. But the people in our compartment were very helpful –giving me a sliver of seat and helping us with things like the name of the train and the cost of water. We had a real sense of camaraderie. And I don’t think it was just because we were foreigners. There was a little girl of about 3 sitting her mum’s lap who naturally rested her hand on the knee of the old man with kind eyes sitting next to them -who they didn’t know. And everyone was fine leaning on each other, which was lucky since we were all squished. But something I could never imagine in a western train, no matter how hot it got.

While looking at men’s wear for the groom, they grabbed Charles and had him try on a few outfits just because:

Handsome, no?

Highly entertaining.